In terms of Game designing, is Ninja Gaiden 2 better than Sigma 2?
we often hear the question and debate which games are better.
Everyone is a gamer and whilst we are gamers we always judge games by their looks or package.

I know this is an old topic, people don't care about which is better.
But I will finally put the nail to the coffin, prove which game is essentially better.

Note that I will NOT compare both games by chapters, graphics, extra characters, extra costumes, bug fixes, chapter select or mission mode.
I will compare both games by their game designs, how they were designed. I will compare their Gameplay analysis.

And no...this will not have any bias towards any of the game. I will basically analyse both game designs and give a verdict in each sections why one of the games made the right decision in terms of game design.

Is Ninja Gaiden 2 better than Sigma 2? of course not!

Gameplay Motivation:Ninja Gaiden 2
If you play Ninja Gaiden 2 all you'll ever do is continuously run along a straight line (linear gameplay) and defeat enemies
along the way. This method is very old skool and thus Non Linear was introduce with/without sandbox style game. The problem with
Ninja Gaiden 2's motivation is that you continue to keep running in a straight line defeating enemies you see until you
meet the boss. This is not an improvement over Ninja Gaiden Black, it is a cheap method of game designing. IT has no
motivation, it lacks puzzles and other gameplay mechanic breaks.
Sure it has puzzle but how many can you count? the only puzzle you encounter is just before fighting Zendonius whereas you
had to ascend to the top of the clock tower, however we wouldn't really CALL that a real puzzle.

The Gatling Gun is a new projectile weapon, it is the only gameplay motivation in NG2 as you have to shoot enemies while in
water. The weapon was pretty pointless to use on land as it was originally designed to give a game break and gameplay
motivation which is a good thing.
Using old skool style method of running to a straight line and killing enemies is classic, however it can get very boring
since you are doing the same thing over and over without doing anything to break the repetition. Enemies are always around
the corner, every step you take you will always encounter the same enemies.

This is why from Ninja Gaiden Black you can go back to previous visited areas or solve puzzles to break the gameplay reptition.

Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2
What about Sigma 2? it is a direct port of Ninja Gaiden 2 so it also suffers the gameplay motivation feature. However the
Hand Cannon project that replaces the Gatling Gun can only be used on Land. However the good thing is that there are bosses
that requires you to use the Hand Cannon in other to defeat them. So removing the Gatling Gun sort of made it worst since you cannot fight enemies under or on water:/

Sigma 2 does not suffer the linear repetition gameplay that NG2 does, because you are not constantly bombarded with enemies
around the corner. Sigma 2 allows you to transverse to location to location, only suspicious areas and open spaces you can atleast expect enemies to appear. In NG2 will you face enemies on almost every path and direction you take whereas in Sigma 2 you
wouldn't and this is why people wonder why Sigma 2 doesn't have much enemies.
Sigma 2 actually manages to become more realistic, please tell me why every step you take in NG2 you must always encounter
enemies? it doesn't make sense and it is stupid.

As for the gameplay motivation break, the game forces the player to play as other characters which gives a break or relief
from constantly using Ryu. This is a good step in game designing, when you look at all Sonic games, you'd notice you will
always take a break apart from running. If you play FPS there will always be a puzzle or a machine you get on that changes
the gameplay break. Gameplay break is very important in video game designing because it prevents the player from being bored of doing the same thing over and over again. Play X-Blades and you'll crave for puzzles or something to do in that game apart from repeating yourself 24/7 by killing the same enemies over and over.

Gameplay SurprisesNinja Gaiden 2
This is not a big deal however it is a situation that wows the player or catches them off guard. Gameplay surprises is when
a player gets surprise by an enemy, situation or item. I can't remember much of NG2 however I can recall the gameplay
surprise happened when you transverse in New York tunnel, after Flying Bird Flip on top a broken train and further running
along. If you drop down a cliff and enter a cave; you would be jumped by a Gargoyle or Vangulf. Other surprise I could
recall was at the starting of Chapter 11, when you descend down the Hayabusa village steps, archers will be targeting you.
In fact I could say that the Archers in NG2 are the biggest surprises since every corner you take you wouldn't expect them
to be aiming at you- Return to Hayabusa village, Sky City Tokyo, and Chapter 11.

Other surprises were the mines and also defeating the Armadillo boss that self destruct. Even the Archfiend during its lvl 2 form would surprise the player in Master Ninja when ascending the tiers of the Volcano.

All in All NG2 does not disappoint the player in terms of Gameplay surprises and the Armadillo self destruction was the
best surprise in the game.

Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2
Again everything NG2 did Sigma 2 also inherits. Sigma 2 also adds new surprises to the game, one of them was Ayane's stage.
It is when you pass the Lycans and you descend along a step. As you can visually see a river with a crow, an archer will
fire at you on spot. Other surprises includes one of the Tengu Twins or Tengu brother dropping on Momiji on her first
encounter.

Overall- Both games offer great surprises, Sigma 2 which is a port of NG2 offers the same surprises and also giving
more additional surprises. So clearly Sigma 2 takes the upper hand but I'm not saying Sigma 2 is better. I am clearly saying you get more surprises in Sigma 2. Its like saying Sigma 2 offers better graphics because its graphics were improved. Or saying you get more weapons in Ninja Gaiden 2 than Ninja Gaiden Black.

Gameplay Combat MechanicNinja Gaiden 2

This is where the real debate starts with gamers debating about this. Ever since I saw Ninja Gaiden 2 on action during TGS
2007 I found the game very boring and I knew something was wrong. I was a fan of NG and I wondered to myself why I found
the Chapter 5 demo with Scythe gameplay very boring.

It was because NG2's gameplay and Ninja Gaiden Black's gameplay were totally different.
In mechanic hack n slash consist of the player pressing command buttons the on screen character would perform on prior to button
sequences or button timing and delay. This is what defines the Hack n Slash genre because of how the mechanic were design.
When we talk about Hack n Slash some people can regard it as a Button bashing game because any button combination you press
goes with what the character will do. This is why Otogi and Ninja Gaiden strayed away from the button bashing game mechanic in
Hack n Slash games and requires the player to KNOW how to play instead of taking the advantage of pressing random buttons.
Ninja Gaiden 2 still attains the Think before you Press mechanic however it still plays differently to Ninja Gaiden 2.

This is a gameplay of NG2 shown at GDC 2008 (I didn't want to include TGS 2007 because they have essentially the same
gameplay however blood was increased in that video)

I am sorry if you can't tell the difference then you do not understand how NG plays.
*Ninja Gaiden 2 enemies do not have much HP, the combat determines on the probability of the body parts that will be dismembered
depending on the attack Ryu strikes.
*NGBlack enemies all have HP, you must weaken their health before their head comes off or before they die.

*NG2 enemies will still attack you furiously even if their body part is missing
*NGBlack once the enemie's head is off, they die and Black doesn't not have dismemberment.

*NG2, ONCE any of their body part gets dismemberment, you can finish the enemy with 1 kill called Obliteration Technique. Thus this makes NG2 incredibly EASY!
*NGBlack performing Obliteration Technique 1.0 will not instantly kill an enemy, they will ONLY die if their HP is low.

*NG2 is fast paced giving you the sense to be more offensive rather than defensive. Thus giving a disadvantage to be more strategic
*NGBlack is slow paced that gives you time to learn enemy attack patterns and allows you to choose how to fight which is more strategic

*NG2 enemies only have 3-5 basic attacks though they constantly spam 1 or 2 moves at you
*NGBlack enemies all have A.I that will always outwit you and they all know how to BLOCK because they want to survive!

*NG2 makes Ryu overpowered and he doesn't need armlets to trigger how he functions and plays
*NGBlack allows Ryu to equip different armlets that triggers how he functions and plays giving the player more strategy to
the combat

*NGS2 gives enemies HP therefore their bodypart do not cut off easily. Especially in Master Ninja mode, it will take many
hits to take down the Claw Ninjas.

*NGS2 gameplay is much slower, giving the player time to think and study the enemy attack patterns.

*NGS2 enemies do block and dodge just like they did from NGBlack however they still have less attack patterns just like
NG2.

*NGS2 once enemy body parts gets cut off, they can be finished with 1 single hit. Making the game very easy like NG2.

Also what are the new changes in Sigma 2?
As you can see Sigma 2 allows the player to use Shurikens permanently and use it along with another Projectile weapon. This
gives the player the empowerment to perform extra combos and combo chains.

All in all. The Obliteration Technique 2.0 from NG2 makes the game VERY easy because once an enemy loses ANY part of their
body, Ryu can easily finish them off with a single button press. The Obliteration should have been designed like NGBlack OT
1.0 whereas using OT will not automatically finish off the enemy. We can even say Obliteration Technquie 3.0 should allow
Ryu to ONLY use OT to cut off certain body parts of an enemy however the enemy will not die.
Now from Ninja Gaiden 3 as it introduces a new mechanic called Steel on Bone which is like a newly reformed OT however it
isn't. Steel on Bone will allow Ryu to impale and stab an enemy with a sword and Ryu will rip off the body with the sword,
this will leave the enemy critical injured, thus Ryu can finally OT the enemy.

What if Ninja Gaiden 4 uses Obliteration 3.0?

Overall- Sigma 2 wins without any doubt. The slow pace is the originality that makes NG critically accliam and one
of the best Hack n Slash titles on Xbox. The graphics made NGBlack receive an award for having One of the Best graphics on Xbox
along with Doom 3, Halo 2 and Half Life 2. Sigma 2 tries to go back to the gameplay combat root of NGBlack and negatively
uses NG2 cheap O.T 2.0 system, fast paced without thinking and overpowered Ryu.

DifficultyNinja Gaiden 2
The biggest debate. First of all, understand the two differences:
*Cheap
*Difficult

There's a BIG difference to the meaning of those two words in gaming. When something is Cheap in terms of games, it means
the A.I or player is performing whatever means necessary cheap to win the match. The best definition is "bringing a knife to a
fist fight" that explains it all. Being cheap means you do not WANT to lose and must not lose therefore you have to play
cheap to win. This is where the cheap word can be used in gaming under Fighting games called Play to Win (I hate those
guys).

As for difficult in gaming means tedious, hard, ardours or tough. To summarise, it's basically you a small guy trying to
beat up a tall guy. That is all.

What is the disadvantage that comes out of those two?
The disadvantage for cheap gameplay is that it forces you to play cheap as well. If a player constantly use Hadoken with
Ryu in Street Fighter and does nothing else, it will force you to pull off hadoken too. Because if you think you want to
jump over the hadoken and get close to him, the opponent will pull off a Shoruken on you.
The disadvantage for difficulty gameplay is that it will force you to strategies how you play. How would you beat a tall
guy if you are a short guy? attack his foot, knees or legs to make him drop down to your level.

*enemies have boosted HP and requires many amount of hits in order to kill them or dismember part of their body

*Enemies know HOW to block and constantly block because they want to survive

*One hit, grab will eat up large portion of your health

*one hit or grab can kill you!

*to avoiding getting killed by a single hit or grab, this mode will force you to master how to play, how enemies attack and
what that attack will do to you.

So in terms of Story mode difficulties, which game is harder? when a game is cheap it can be very tedious and difficult to
over come as it forces you to play cheap as well.
When a game is difficult, it is merely testing your twits and knowledge HOW you can overcome this test because it IS do-
able as long as you are ready for the challenge and you have the legit skills to do so.

Overall- Ninja Gaiden 2 is more difficult because of its cheapness, this cheapness cannot even allow people to finish
Master Ninja because of the constant spamming of projectiles. Ninja Gaiden Black proves to be how difficulty should play
and Sigma 2 tries to follow that route.
Would you like your game to be more difficult or more cheap? would you like to spend time playing with Sentinel,
Magento/Storm and Cable spammers in Marvel vs Capcom 2? Would you like to spend time with players button bashing or
spamming the same attacks in Soul Calibur 4? Would you like to spend with with Hadoken or Shoruken spammers in Street
Fighter games?
Would you like to fight bosses like Alpha 152 in every fighting games as Arcade end boss?
I believe not!

You are looking for a challenge, a difficult battle that challenges your knowledge and skills, not to make you and
force you to play cheap just as they do.
Therefore Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 wins as a more difficult game.

I know fanboys are crying out aloud now. But haven't you been reading?

Enemies know how to block in NGS2 whereas they can't in NG2
Enemies will offer you a challenge to make sure you master how they fight so that you can avoid the 1 hit kill grab,
whereas in NG2 you are spammed with projectiles and you don't NEED a brain to figure out how enemy attacks.

In terms of better package, presentation and game designing, NGS2 wins! If you don't know anything about game presentation
or game designing, you would say 'NG2 wins'.
I was asking you questions if you prefer playing against spammers, and if you say no then why do you want to fight spamming
enemies in NG2 and pertain that NG2 is the better overall difficult game?

We all agree that NG2 is more difficult but seriously who the hell likes cheap gameplay? we all want real challenges
therefore NGS2 is the "better" difficulty game and wins this round.

Its so funny that Ninja Gaiden Black was so difficult without being cheap and MAJORITY could not even finish Normal mode
O_o.

Boss structure

When we talk about the boss battles for a NG game we expect the boss to be difficult and smart, we want to think of a way
to defeat the boss not just by attacking them as they attack you which makes no sense.

First I will display a boss battle from Ninja Gaiden Black

Ninja Gaiden Black Alma Awakening Master NInja (I didn't want to use a video with a pro player because he would make the
boss battle very easy).

*Most of the attack that are vulnerable to Alma she will dodge, including the cheap attack Flying Swallow.

*You can attack her the difficult way, or work hard to stun her so you can perform harder damages

*Smart A.I!

*Ninpo does an additional damage to the boss

*Some weapons were designed specifically for bosses for an example Dragon Sword was designed to be used against Alma
meaning Dragon Sword will perform a better damage on Alma than other weapons. Now imaging using Vigoorian Flails against
Alma, it will be a very difficult and be a challenging battle.

Alma can be compared to Elizabeth by the way they were designed and how they fight.

*Elizabeth is always hovering in the air, and does what SHE's supposed to do since she has wings!

*Elizabeth does have a battle structure, several attacks will do little damage while some attacks will deal heavy damages.

*Elizabeth's battle structure allows you to Stun her while she's in the air. In fact all bosses can now be stunned even
more in Sigma 2.

*All bosses health has been boosted and can take a very long time to drain them

Overall- It's so obvious, NGS2 wins. Also on prior to which game is difficult. You can see NGS2 is even more
difficult because bosses do not die easily like they do in NG2 and they all don't afflict heavy damage based on weak attacks like
they do in NG2.
NG2 is clearly an easy designed game but cheap on game battle design.

No Windmill Shuriken?Ninja Gaiden 2
Ninja Gaiden 2 was clearly an original game, it added items from Ninja Gaiden Black and tries to improve upon them.

The Windmill Shuriken from NGBlack returns in NG2....for no reason and it was completely useless in this game.

What is the purpose of the Shuriken Windmill and how does it work?
Windmill Shuriken is not a gimmick.
Windmill Shuriken does the same damage a shuriken does. The purpose of a Windmill Shuriken is to be used while Ryu is in
the air.
Ryu would throw it while in the air, which causes him to instantly drop to the ground and thus grants Ryu to perform additional
attacks or perform an Instant Ultimate Technique.
Additional purpose of using the windmill shuriken allows you to perform Instant Ultimate Technique on the enemy juggled in
the air.

In NG2 Ryu can finally upgrade his projectile weapons (for no reason), upgrading a projectile weapon basically increases
its damage level and increased functionality effects.
Why does NG2 even need Windmill Shuriken? NG2 is not strategic like NGBlack, the game is so fast paced that you can't even
think of what you will plan to do next. You are always constantly bombarded with projectile that doesn't even give you an
opportunity to use Windmill in the air and perform Instant UT.

In NGBlack the Windmill Shuriken was designed to be used strategically and its functionality was to be used while Ryu is in
the air.
However in NG2 its purpose and design was to be used as a UT attack. Sure you can still use it while in the air however
you will basically be wasting your time doing so because NG2 was not designed to be strategic like NGBlack.
In fact Windmill Shuriken is a cheap weapon in NG2 because if you use its lvl 2 UT, the weapon will Instant Kill 3-5
enemies.

With Windmill Shuriken being in NG2, with OT 2.0 being in NG2, they all make NG2 just a cheap easy game:/

Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2
NGS2 omitted the Windmill Shuriken from the game because it has no purpose in the game. However NGS2 is a slow pace game
meaning you can form strategy on how to win a battle, therefore using Windmill Shuriken will make sense. Obviously it was
removed in Sigma 2 for copyright protection over Ninja Gaiden 2 contract.

There was no reason why WS should had been included in NG2 as it serves no purpose but makes the game cheap to play,
however it would have served a purpose in NGS2.

Overall- Should NGS2 had included Windmill Shuriken? Yes but it did not because of copyright problems. Did NG2
needed Windmill Shuriken? NO as NG2's gameplay was designed to be more offensive rather than strategic defensive so it was
a waste adding it and made the game cheap!

No one wins, both lost!

HUD DesignNinja Gaiden 2

The HUD is very important in any game and it helps translate information from within the game to the player in
understandable manner. There is nothing much to talk about in HUD Design. Its not as if anything is wrong with it.

This is NG Black's HUD

And this is NG2's HUD

Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2

This is NGS2's HUD

Now what is all this about? well in past NG games you can tell how much health Ryu has, how much ninpo he has and his
currently selected ninpos. That is the whole point of NG's HUD.
In NGS2 you cannot see Ryu's currently selected Ninpo.

Overall- Clearly I made this just to give NG2 a point since NGS2 has been kicking it's has in various overall
topics. But seriously NGS2 took a step back in game designing, it is essential the player knows what he has selected
displayed in the HUD. If the information is not displayed then the HUD is completely useless. I love NGS2's HUD design
because of it's sleek style but without knowing what ninpo you have selected is a disadvantage con!

Ninja Gaiden 2 clearly wins this round

Varieties of BossesNinja Gaiden 2

Ninja Gaiden 2 seems to have a lot of challenging bosses and not so challenging bosses.

We had bosses that were badly designed, bosses such as the Gaint Underground Worm boss, the player has NO idea how to fight
this boss in terms of designing and structure. How exactly do we fight this boss?
*Players would stand in the hall way and charge for UT until the boss appears.
*Players would hide inside one of the caves, charge for UT and if the boss gets very close they unleash the UT

Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2
NGS2 removed the worm boss because it did not made sense to fight and was badly designed. Why should you be hiding in a
cave to spam the boss with UT? Why should you stand in the hall way, charge for UT and wait for the boss to appear? doesn't
that mean you are playing CHEAP and using UT to fight bosses?

OVERALL- NGS2 wins...AGAIN. Why should you have a boss that encourages spamming of UT or cheap play? you might as well not
play the game in Master Ninja. This is Ninja Gaiden for goodness sake, it is might to be a HARD game and offers you
challenge.

++WATER DRAGON BOSS

Ah....another part of the varieties of bosses in NG2. This time is the Water Dragon.
Again...badly designed just like Worm boss and with no battle structure.
How do you fight this boss?
*If you were prepared, you can fight the boss by spamming projectile arrows with lvl 2 UT.
*run around the water and fight it

*spam with UT however you will be penalized because spamming UT against the boss does very little damage....just like every
other boss

*use the weapon it was mainly designed for- the Hand Cannon or Nation's Crusher.

OVERALL- Sigma 2 wins...AGAIN! You cannot have a boss battle that confuses the player how to fight it. What if the player
had no arrows before the boss fight? how would he fight the water dragon boss? why should the player run on water fighting the boss? it makes NO sense!

*The boss for that particular chapter has been replaced with a Dark Fire Dragon boss.

*You only fight it once

OVERALL- Who wins? NG2 offers a challenging experience and it isn't a cheap boss. NGS2 offers a unique boss you only battle
once, in master ninja it becomes hard because 1 hit will kill you.
In the end NGS2 wins, why? because you only get to fight that boss once which makes it unique. In NG2 you fight one of the
Golden Dragon later in Chapter 10 meaning this boss is not unique and basically recycled.

Remember how you only fought the Bone Dragon once and Panzu once in Ninja Gaiden Black? Exactly!

++Doppleganger
Under the Varieties of Bosses.

Ninja Gaiden 2
Wow I can't believe Evil Ryu or Fiend Ryu whose real name is called "Doppelgänger" was not in NG2! How disappointing

Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2
A game that manages to stick to its true Ninja Gaiden formula and what makes it NG, by including Doppelganger boss.
Even though this game does have the boss, you can only fight them in Team Mission mode. So it really isn't epic if they
were included since we couldn't encounter them in Storymode:/

OVERALL- Who wins? NG2 did not have this iconic boss, this boss makes a Ninja Gaiden a NG game. NGS2 manages to have this
boss included in the package but excluded in the story!

I won't declare any winner here because NGS2 had 1 boss removed in the game which was the worthless Giant Underground Worm.

When we first encountered Doppelganger from Ninja Gaiden Black in Very Hard, it was epic and very surprising.
Having Doppelganger was cool in NGS2 but was not epic since we did not encounter him in Storymode. However it was amazing
having a co-op battle against the badass.

Overall Package Difficulty
This is the final topic I will talk about that distinguishes both games in terms of overall package, replay value and difficulty.

Every time someone asks why is NG2 better than NGS2? I will always say the additional contents, bug fixes, characters, team mission, chapter selects etc makes NGS2 the better game. That is just from a gamer's point of view, but from a developer point of view you will analysis the mechanic, package, structure and design then you can judge which is the better game.

I will not go into detail with what NG2 had to offer in terms of replay value because we all know NGS2 wins but I just want to clarify "why" and "how" NGS2 always win.

What is the overall package difficulty? it is looking at the game for what it has to offer.
If you look at Battletoads, Ghost n Ghouls, Demon's Souls, Wip3out, Contra, F-Zero etc. What do they have in package? the difficulty. If you are looking for a game to buy that you will spend 10000+ hours to master the game so that you can beat the difficulty, those above games are what to look for.

Ninja Gaiden 2
What is the overall difficulty package for NG2?
[*] 1 Star
Trying to beat Chapter 1 in Master Ninja is difficult enough. And if you can manage to beat Chapter 1 therefore you are in luck as things will change for the rest of the stages, however the real challenge comes with what weapon you had to upgrade to after clearing chapter 1. Should you upgrade to lvl 2 dragon sword or lvl 2 lunar stick to survive Chapter 2-5?

[**] 2 Stars
Trying to beat Master Ninja is a difficult task, enough said. This game's difficulty is very cheap and when something is cheap, it will become a probability and chance situation of winning or losing.
Take the memorable E.V.O tournament Street Fighter 3 Third Strike with Diago and Justin Wong. Chun li had the upper hand while Ken was so close to dying and immediately Ken performed parry that gave him an edge in battle and won. Or think of you owning a n00b in Soul Calibur, as you've nearly won the n00b just button bashes and spams Maxi's attack that made you lose the fight. This is how Master Ninja is.
Every time you die in Master Ninja, it clearly isn't your fault because you were overwhelmed by the constant projectile attacks and minions swarming up on you in boss fights.

[***3] 3 Stars
The Stair Case fight. This is truly an epic battle and also a seriously flawed game battle sequence in video game history. Only NG2 Itagaki fanboys will always use this part as an excuse to give reason why NG2 is better than NGS2.
Chapter 11 pitches Ryu in a long height staircase and he had to battle 100 ninjas.
This is really and truly an epic fight because you are surrounded by ninjas, and it also puts the Piercing Void ninpo to a good use. Nothing can compare to seeing the Piercing void pierce through 30 ninjas in one straight line!
This battle is truly something a NG fan needs to experience and playing this in Master Ninja is totally crazy because you will constantly get bombarded with explosive shurikens!

However all goodness said, the problem with having this Stair Case fight is because the game's framerate that will drop down to 10fps or below. That is why I rate this as one of the most stupid ridiculous Flawed Playthrough Experience in Video Game History. If you want to give off an epic battle with 1 man vs 30 ninjas at a time, why should the game slow down to ruin the experience? It basically contradicts the purpose of making the fight epic because the framerate drop makes it flawed.

All in All this stair case fight is enjoyable in Warrior mode and slightly enjoyable in Mentor mode. It should be experienced in Mentor mode and it is ridiculous and difficult in Master Ninja mode.

[****] 4 Stars
Chapter 11.Wow....If you are an hardcore gamer, you love hard games or you are a Ninja Gaiden fan. This chapter is a MUST to experience! You fight the Twin Spider sub bosses along with Clawed Incendiary Shuriken ninjas. If you can get pass this chapter then you can finish this game in Master Ninja.
This part in the game is very very intensed because it is very cheap and challengingly difficult at the same time.

[*****] 5 Stars
Nothing comes to mastering the weapons. If you can master all weapons and beat the game with all weapons then you'll get clumsy gamerscore of 10gs however all that will add to your percentage of beating the game 100%.
This is the hardest difficulty in NG2 as you need to master and understand what moves work best for certain bosses and enemies.

[******] 6 Stars
Getting up to 5 stars means you've successfully gotten 1000/1000 achievements. What is 6 stars? 6 stars isn't that much but involves you playing the game with ONLY ninpos until you reach Chapter 11. Also beating the game with no weapon upgrades or no healthbar upgrades. Beating Master Ninja with no health gauge upgrade is do-able, and same goes to No Weapon Run but Nino uses until Chapter 11.

Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2

Does NGS2 offer the same overall difficulty package NG2 offers that encourages the player to keep playing the game till they achieve Platinum trophy and 100% game completion?
Yes.

[*] 1 Star
Trying to beat Master Ninja Chapter 1 is not that difficult compared to NG2. This game is designed to be slower making it more strategic. Meaning you should know enemy patterns by now because 1 grab by the Clawed Ninjas will instantly kill you. Basically this chapter encourages players to play professionally and should not create any mistakes! It is basically a test to see if you are fit for a Master Ninja, because being flawness (untouchable) is what you need through out this mode. In comparison to Ninja Gaiden 2's Master Ninja Chapter 1, it basically test you if you are worthy to rise over the spamming because that is what you are in for through out the game.

[**] 2 Stars
Trying to beat Master Ninja is difficult however the most challenging part is understanding the right weapon and moves for the right boss.You see in NG2's Master Ninja, what ever move you perform will deal heavy damage against the boss, however for Sigma 2 all that has changed because bosses health guage requires plenty of hits to deplete. All that ontop of the 1 grab kill can put a stress on the player. Because you have to play professionally and master all weapons like you are supposed to just like in Ninja Gaiden Black.

[***] 3 Stars
Getting past Momiji and Ayane stages. WOW! If you cannot beat the Twin Tengu or Tengu Brothers in Momiji's chapter therefore you CANNOT advance beyond this point. It is very very challenging because the Red Tengu can grab you that gives a 1 hit kill.
Ayane's stage is also difficult and it becomes so tedious in the Market area.

[****] 4 Stars
For those people who think they've played enough of NGS2, they can think again because trying to beat Chapter Challenge is another worthy task to perform, it requires you to once again play Momiji and Ayane chapters and All chapters in every difficulty. But wait, you need to get Master Ninja ranks meaning you have to kill every enemies in every chapter.

[*****] 5 Stars
Team Missions.
Originally I should include Ninja Gaiden 2's Mission mode as one of the package difficulty however that comes as DLC and it is quite buggy and also corrupts players saves. Team Mission comes along with NGS2. Team Missions contains the extact same missions from Mission Mode however excludes the Green orb system intergrated to NG2 mission mode scenario.
Essentially and Evidentally Mission Modes missions are quite difficult and also offer better difficulty package because you can toggle the sort of difficulty you want to play on a particular mission. Again to penalize that or counter that, remember the difference between bosses from NG2 and NGS2? Well in NG2 bosses die easily than NGS2 as NGS2 requires you to work hard at defeating bosses, good luck trying to defeat Elizabeth in Master Ninja! Trying to play Team Missions alone with an A.I is difficult enough. Try playing Ultimate Ninja 2 with an A.I and see how far you can survive. My closest is getting to 3 Genshin with Rachel A.I.

[******] 6 Stars
6 Star difficulty already,
Everyone may agree that Team Missions allows you to partner with an A.I or other human players that could makes the game easy. Well that is not the case either joining forces with another player or what not. You will get penalized for doing so. In Team Missions, you can only use 1 weapon throughout an entire single mission, 1 ninpo and 1 projectile as you cannot change any of them. This makes NG2's Mission mode quite easy because you can use an approraite weapon for certain enemies, bosses or at certain times. Also you can revive fallen players or partner doing the same to you. Even though you both can revive each other, you are limited to doing so, NG2 Mission Mode allows you to use limited healing items.
You are also limited to 1 Ninpos however double ninpos will clear the enemies on screen; although ninpos or double ninpo will only do very little damage against bosses sometimes NO DAMAGES AT ALL.

[*******] 7 Stars
NGS2 having 7 star replayiblity means it's way better than NG2.
What is this 7 star? Well it is Ultimate Ninja!
This is the ONLY thing stopping us countless Master Ninja from attaining Platinum Trophies!
This defines what Ninja Gaiden is and how difficult it is. Nothing can compare to these missions, not even NG2 Stair case or Chapter 11. Ultimate Ninja is only for the Master Ninjas aka Big boys.
Many of us can take on these challenges however things that are stopping us from completing them is the constant disconnection, lagging problems or we don't have the skills to beat the mission
Can you survive the 5 seconds of your life in Ultimate Ninja 2?
Can you survive wave of bosses and deal with 3 fiend Genshins?
Can you and your partner take on Statue bosses without needing help?
Can you both take on 2 Doppelgangers together that both have equal skills to Ryu and no flaws?
Can you both take on 3 Doppelgangers together with additional 2?

Ultimate Ninja alone makes NGS2 harder and better than NG2. Because I have finished Master Ninja and various mission in Master Ninja in Ninja Gaiden Black and Ninja Gaiden Sigma, I had finished Master Ninja and gotten 1000/1000 in Ninja Gaiden 2. Not to be able to get Platinum Trophy in NGS2 means this game is the hardest Ninja Gaiden to date!

[********] 8 Stars?
wtf? 8 stars? give me a break?
Well clearly there isn't a 8 star. Getting up to 7 stars means you've collected all trophies. However getting 8 stars means you are a true Master Ninja, with Ultimate Ninja skills and you've successfully completed the game 100%.
How do you beat this game 100%?
Well...
Can you Beat All Team Missions with all female characters?
Sure you can beat Ultimate Ninja 2 with Ryu Tonfa, but can you even beat the mission with the females? or Ryu with other weapons apart from Dragon Fang and Tiger Claw?

8 star difficulty is exactly like how gamers beat Master Ninja in Ninja Gaiden Black with Wooden Sword, no weapon upgrade or no health gauge upgrade. A lot of people paid full price for NGS2 (Some didn't) and they only use Ryu online in Team Missions. After getting Platinum a lot of people stopped playing this game. In fact a lot of people think they are so good at this game but do not know they are ONLY good at using Ryu, they barely touched 60% of this game.

So all in all I have successfully analysis both game designs and why they are better in each counterparts.
I did not even compare both games graphics or content package. I merely analysis what both offers in terms of Game Designing.
It is now official that Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 offers a better game design, difficulty package and more difficult.

There is a difference between playing cheap and playing wisely.

It is ABSOLUTELY fine if you still prefer NG2 over NGS2. Everybody have their taste but just accept the fact that Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 is the better and more difficult game.

If you see somebody telling you or others why the inferior not so challenging but cheap game is better than NGS2, please show them this in-detailed anaylsis.

Anyone who clearly disagress doesn't know proper/real game designing or is clearly a NG2 Itagaki fanboy._________________black...

I could not agree more. Finally someone who pretty much thinks the same about the game. Sigma 2 is much better. One thing I always told is what you mentioned in your first post. The part where you said that Sigma plays more like a NG Black. That's correct. For me Sigma 2 is the only true NG2 and it offers new but also classic gameplay.

NG2 was rushed and totally lazy designed....for no reason after such a long time.

First one doesn't count, unimportant to gameplay. Sigma 2 still has gore since all OT's are still in the game (the actual gore in NG2 only came from the brutal OTs).
Second one was DLC, so NG2 automatically loses. With DLC I can always do something better, but why should I pay for something which was intentionally not brought to the game?

It's like playtesting a game. If a FPS only has 4 multiplayer maps I cant say "yay". Even if the next DLC brings like 20 super awesome designed maps, the actual game only offers 4 orignal maps, which is just poor (if I would compare it to other titles of this genre). You have to look at the game in it's original state cauz this is what you get when you buy the game.

Opinion: yes. Fact: no.

But yeah, I would love to see solo missions for Sigma 2. Or at least an option to turn the dumb A.I. off, lol._________________

They only look human IMO. In NG2, when I first saw Rasetsu, I couldnt believe that the BS clan has any really human members left. Rasetsu's face (his mouth) was abnormal, even in his human form, right before he transformed into that giant spider like thing. And he was no unique BS member, btw. Later in the game you have several "Rasetsu" fights. It may look stupid if you played NG2 before, but in my eyes the mist makes more sense and your enemies more believeable (story background, dismemberment)._________________

However the good thing is that there are bosses
that requires you to use the Hand Cannon in other to defeat them. So removing the Gatling Gun sort of made it worst since you cannot fight enemies under or on water:/

What's the point in keeping a weapon to fight enemies on or underwater since there are… no enemies on water anymore ? Except the eels, which you can perfectly kill with the Howling Canon. Actually I only use the Canon for them or sometimes against zombies… Cause no, there are no bosses that require you to use it. I would even say it is not advisable to use it most of the time, since the recoil lets you vulnerable two good seconds. I tried to use it to get Gold Vangelfs down in MN and often was rewarded with a one-hit kill fire ball in my face. Even against the Quetzalcoatl in chapter 13 (why did they keep that boss anyway ?!) it does little damage.
However thanks for showing me a non-boring way to fight the water dragon You can perfectly kill it by spamming Enma's Fang UT's and it is the easiest way in MN, but it is awfully long to do.

I agree about the Windmill Shuriken, it would have been interesting to use in Sigma 2. You did no comment about Incendiary Shuriken however, I think removing them was the right choice.

Howver I do not agree for Ultimate Ninja… that thing is not difficult, it's sheer torture ! I beat the two Doppelgänger once but I still don't know how in hell I managed to do that. And there is the partner A.I issue. I'm not connected to PS Network so I can only do Team Missions with the computer, which is more a load than a help in any mission above Mentor : rather than focusing on the enemies, you have to constantly protect or revive your partner who dies in no time. That makes the Ultimate Ninja missions pretty much impossible to beat.

Another thing you could have noted is the weapon upgrade system : in NG2 you can upgrade any weapon at anytime as long as you have enough essence. And since there are so many ennemies, spamming UTs will get you a lot of essence. In Sigma 2 upgrading is free of charge but you actually have to make a choice as to which weapon you should upgrade ; and you can't have a level 3 weapon before chapter 10. In some NG2's walkthrough I saw players who had a level 3 Dragon Sword in chapter 4, this is ridiculous… Maybe that tweak was a bit overdone though, in Sigma 2 it's the opposite extreme : you can't possibly have all your weapons upgraded by the end of the game since there are not enough blue shops. But I still prefer this restrictive system.

Also, what is this copyright thing ?! Is Itagaki exclusive owner of NG2 or something ? Both games were developed by Team Ninja and Sigma 2 was made after Itagaki left, I don't see the problem here…

Sigma 2 may be better and harder than NG2.
If people prefer NG2 over Sigma 2, let them as it isn't my problem and it's good people have flavours. But just because they favour something over another doesn't mean it's better, it's basically their taste.
Much like the game release battle with Blur+Split/Second or Bayonetta+DarkSiderS= To each his/her own.
I may like Split/Second over Blur but does that mean it's better? Taste doesn't justify what is better, the only way to judge is to look at both games from outside the box view or internally by game design.

@Shrykull
Cause no, there are no bosses that require you to use it.
There are, Water Dragon and the aforementioned boss Quetzalcoatl. Basically Howling Cannon does more damage than Arrows. Fighting the Water Dragon by spamming the UT is do-able but that is basically the cheap way of defeating the boss. Why are gamers playing it on Master Ninja if they are going to cheat their way out by cheap spamming? O_o

You did no comment about Incendiary Shuriken however, I think removing them was the right choice.
I didn't comment about it because it wasn't removed It was basically given to Ayane.
There isn't much to talk about the incendiary darts as it does the same purpose from NGBlack.
I mean if you use incendiary darts UT, Ryu basically throws 3-4 explosive darts. Ayane does the same without using UT as she too can also throw 3-4 explosive darts.
There is nothing wrong with incendiary darts in NG2, it basically does the same from NGBlack and I would say the Projectile UT only works for Incendiary Darts because it gives ryu more options to throw more incendiary shurikens.

you have to constantly protect or revive your partner who dies in no time. That makes the Ultimate Ninja missions pretty much impossible to beat.
O_o wow man...lol. Damn if only you have internet man because this game is great playing with another human.
Best thing to do is to choose Rachel as your A.I partner, Rachel seems to last longer than other characters. I've gotten past Wave 2 in Master Ninja 1 with Rachel and she's the one that helped me discovered that Rachel can air throw Genshin.
Also got up to 3 Genshins in Ultimate Ninja 2 and 2 Statue of Liberty in Ultimate Ninja 3. Make sure you always pick Rachel and use Double ninpo wisely.

And believe me, you'll get more challenge if you try other weapons and characters. I'm using Momiji to beat Ultimate Ninja 3 and without using the camera glitch and my god the game gives you crazy adrenaline rush.

The problem with people is that they do not view Ninja Gaiden games as challenges anymore (well PS3 players:/), people cannot stand losing and therefore they start to use cheap attacks and tactics in other to win the game. People are complaining about using only Ryu in Ninja Gaiden 3 online but why complain? Everyone plays as Ryu online in Team missions O_o.

Another thing you could have noted is the weapon upgrade system : in NG2 you can upgrade any weapon at anytime as long as you have enough essence. And since there are so many ennemies, spamming UTs will get you a lot of essence. In Sigma 2 upgrading is free of charge but you actually have to make a choice as to which weapon you should upgrade ; and you can't have a level 3 weapon before chapter 10. In some NG2's walkthrough I saw players who had a level 3 Dragon Sword in chapter 4, this is ridiculous… Maybe that tweak was a bit overdone though, in Sigma 2 it's the opposite extreme : you can't possibly have all your weapons upgraded by the end of the game since there are not enough blue shops. But I still prefer this restrictive system.
Yes I should have broken down this game design but I did not remember and the amount I've already written was well over 5000 words O_o. In fact I was nearly late for work.

Again in terms of game designing, Hayashi is trying to make everything NG back to WHAT makes it Ninja Gaiden. In NGBlack you were limited to upgrading am I not right? You could only upgrade at certain chapters. The reason for doing this is to give the player more sense of challenge, exactly like you said how you were shocked by people having Lvl 3 Dragon Sword in chapter 4. What is the point? the game would be easier if you have that lvled up weapon at early stage.

If I was to compare the upgrading system for NG2 & Sigma 2, I would say NG2 wins but Sigma 2 did it better.
Hayashi should have removed the yellow essence all together because you were limited to upgrading weapons WITHOUT karma and you only needed karma to purchase items. It was really pointless to have the yellow essence in Sigma 2 because you'd rarely spend it. And if Hayashi did approve to omit yellow essence, it would make NGS2 weird and even worst since people complained about removal of things and blood.

This is why yellow essence was originally removed in NG3 (along with immersive). To tell you the truth with these kinds of games that have the Protagonist collecting items in order to level up makes it pointless. Because after you've levelled up, the item collections become pointless in collecting. Much like DarkSiderS, you collect souls to level up and after you have fully leveled up what happens to the souls? they become useless, -flaw in game designing-

Even though NG2 wins in terms of Weapon upgrading, allowing players to FREELY upgrade their weapons anytime discourage the challenge in NG. The players NEEDS to be controlled and limited to weapon usage. The purpose is to give the player a sense of challenge how they can overcome certain bosses or enemies with a particular type of weapon at a certain level.

Also, what is this copyright thing ?! Is Itagaki exclusive owner of NG2 or something ? Both games were developed by Team Ninja and Sigma 2 was made after Itagaki left, I don't see the problem here…
Glad you asked. Its good to "want to know something" behind an action rather than judge it like everyone else does because knowing the story behind it makes you smarter while making others naive.

Microsoft are the publishers of Ninja Gaiden 2, Tecmo signed a contract with them so that NG2 will be exclusive to Xbox 360. I do not know the story of Ninja Gaiden/Black but Ninja Gaiden Sigma is a port of NGB exclusive for ps3. Thus this gave opportunity for Tecmo to use the Sigma brand because Sigma is a different game to NG even though it is a port, it is PS3's exclusive version of it. Tecmo used this opportunity to bring NG2 to ps3 in form of Sigma 2. However the reason for all the changes- bosses, enemies, weapons, removals, blood was done so that NGS2 would not look exactly like NG2 or else Tecmo are breaching the contract.
Sacrifices were needed to be made so NGS2 does not look like a direct clone of NG2.
You can even tell the difference from visuals- NG2 has a more darker tone than NGS2. NGS2 is more brighter and colourful and has nothing to do with ps3/xbox tv comparison you see with LensofTruth:/

However Sigma 2 had Team Missions, new characters, new bosses, new chapter select, ninja records etc. All these allowed NGS2 to be classified as a near-new game.

If XBox 360 owners wanted Sigma 2 additions as DLC to xbox 360, Microsoft would have to pay a lot of money for that and beside Sigma ports for NG2 would never happen because those additions were what makes Sigma exclusive.

The reason why the blood was removed from Sigma 2 wasn't due to a rational decision by Hayashi however it was made for 2 choices-
1. to make NGS2 sell more considering it is a port and ports do not break 1 million mark.
NG2 is still banned in Germany (i think it is in Aus). NGS2 allowed Germany people to finally play NGS2 but without the selling tool-blood.

2. Blood was the selling factor of NG2 and if NGS2 does have blood then NGS2 is basically a copy of NG2 and Microsoft can take direct actions on this.

Ironically Sigma 2 only sold near 50k copies, Tecmo wanted to aim the game at teens+ because NG2 was rated 18 and you could see the game sold 1million regardless of the age limit. The problem happened because of people saying "no blood, no buy". The removal of blood eventually cost Tecmo NGS2 sales.

This is why Team NINJA wanted to satsify all fans for the removal of blood from NGS2 thus by making NG3 even more bloody. Yes i know the blood is there to give the sense of cutting into someone.

As you can see the contract ended and thus why NG3 is coming out on both consoles this time.

Again NG3 will be banned in Germany and Australia. Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge will be coming out for Wii U and Team NINJA's only option for delivering this game to Germany and Austrailia is to give a blood turn on/off feature or ability to change the colour of the blood from red to purple

I will be surprised if NG3 survives the ban from Aus!_________________black...

I agree with most of the things you said Xino. And i like NGS2 alot more than NG2 just like you. But i keep asking myself.. Why do you spam this post on every NG forum? Is it really that important to tell everybody that NGS2 is a better design? Any schoolboy could figure that out xD_________________